The White House finally knucked under to a court order on providing documents about who met with Administration officials during planning for Bush energy policy. Surprise, surprise, it seems to have been largely campaign contributors and energy company officials, and to have not been anyone from consumer or environmental groups.
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham met with 36 representatives of business interests and many campaign contributors while developing President Bush’s energy policy, and he held no meetings with conservation or consumer groups, documents released last night show.
… A first review of the 11,000 pages of documents bolsters the contention of Democratic lawmakers and environmental groups that the Bush administration relied almost exclusively on the advice of executives from utilities and producers of oil, gas, coal and nuclear energy while a White House task force drafted recommendations that would vastly increase energy production.
… Abraham issued a statement calling the energy plan “a balanced and comprehensive energy plan for America,” and said that the administration “not only sought but included all viewpoints.”
Jeez, the next thing you know, we’ll discover there’s gambling at Rick’s …
(Via NextDraft)
Mainly funny in that the administration really believes, probably, that it was “balanced” and “included all viewpoints”. There were 36 of them, after all. You don’t have to be a nuculur scientist to see Dubbya’s point.